I
dl
12 Conservative.
Efforts nro making and it is believed
by the postal auhoritie.s ( in the United
States and England that the conclusion
is near at hand when the uniform post
al rate between the two countries will
bo the same as in that in either country ,
1 penny , or 2 cents. The conviction of
experts is that the increase of postal
matter at the reduced rate would in
crease the postal revenue for both coun
tries. Yet by a strange anomaly of con
ditions Great Britain is likely to bo
battled in the attempt to make a similar
reduction between the mother country
and her confederated colonies. The ob
jection on the part of Australia and
Canada is that on their side of the bar
gain it would bo unprofitable. What a
curious turn may bo presented by the
early future England and the United
States with common postal dues ; Eng
land and her colonies with discriminat
ing rates !
The demoralization of the personnel
of the shipping service in the United
States is pretty well known. It strikes
a note of alarm at a time when other
influences and conditions look to a re
creation of our shipping interests and
carrying trade. Wo are prepared to
build the best ships in the world now ,
and wo should bo able to man thorn effi
ciently. The brutalities of shipboard
lifo have driven the American Jack out
of the business , and foreigners for the
most part man our seagoing vessels.
Similar conditions exist in Great Brit
ain , to the discomforturo of all students
of commerce there , and a thorough inves
tigation is making preliminary to at
tempts at reform. It is time for us to
bo up and doing too , if not for human
ity's bake , in the interests of business at
least.
The Civic Federation Abroad.
That very noteworthy and interesting
body of men and women in Chicago
known as the Civic Federation has been
laboring assiduously for half a dozen
years or moro to uplift the moral tone
as manifested in the public aspects of
the community where it had its origin.
It has tackled social and municipal
questions with the zeal of a modern St.
Paul and labored in 'season and out of
season for the common weal. It has
been measurably successful in some of
its aims , it has failed in many so far as
immediate practical results go. Many a
satirist has poked fun at the institution
as a pretentious mugwump debating so
ciety where the members go to swell
with pride at the sonorous flow of their
own fine language , as the ) * pose before
the mirror of self complacency. This
slander , however , is the futile abuse of
the Philistines who shudder at the name
of reform. It is beyond all question
that the Civic Federation has been a
powerful clement of political culture.
It has crystallized conviction among the
better classes by the discussion on the
broadest scale of public and social evils ,
wherein lie t heir roots , wherein their
remedies and as to what difficulties
must bo overcome to enforce those rem
edies successfully.
The aim in view is a uoblo ambition
and worthy of rivalry , not only as an
attempt at better things , but as an ef
fective instrument of practical work.
As brought to bear on municipal prob
lems with a specific end to bo reached
its value is manifest. But the organiza
tion has been inspired to achieve larger
conquests , if anything can be greater
than municipal reform. It has called
a meeting of representative minds
throughout the land to gather at Sara
toga in the latter part of August with
the purpose of educating opinion about
the harvest which wo ought to reap
from the war in the settlement of terms
and the reaching out after results. It is
eminently within the rights of free
speech to do such things , and debate is
a potent instrument of truth. The men
who have been summoned to the rally
are among the prominent figures of the
intellectual and political world. Oppos
ing views will bo freely ventilated , and
the jingo will lock horns with the con
servative in the battle of words. But
after all it looks very much like a jun
keting without much working pith in
it. The thesis in view has been discussed
to tatters by the newspapers , pro and
con , and the argument of the contro
versy has been fully exploited. There is
no such practical purpose in view as in
the special field of the Civic Federation.
It is not likely to affect the end by a jot
or tittle. Yet if it does no good it will
work no evil. One ventures to hope
that the fedorationists will get much
gain of health and strength by a copi
ous absorption of Saratoga water.
The Grent Asiatic Problem.
The fact is curiously interesting that
the oldest and most densely populated
empire in the world , which is also high
ly civilized in its way , is becoming as
much of a cockpit for the rival aggres
sions of Europe as if it were a region
occupied by African savages. Whatever
else may bo said of China , the gorgeous
Cathay of Marco Polo , she is the in
heritrix of an ancient and once amazing
culture. That she has remained petri
fied in that culture , indifferent to the
strides of the rest of humanity , makes
her now the victim of the powers , which
have long beaten at her doors and now
burst them in. At least five centuries
behind every other great nation in all
the arts and sciences which constitute
power , she may be compared to a whale
stranded on the beach. Her future
now promises to bo just what half a
dozen powerful and ambitious govern
ments hungry for extension of com
merce and influence permit it to bo
The grip they already have will bo re
lentlessly extended at every opening
and under every pretense.
That aspect of the problum which is
found in the question , "Wliat will be
come of China ? " is not moro interest
ing , however , than speculation as to
what this apple of discord will evolve
as a stimulant to quarrels among the
powers of the west. The old eastern
question which kept European civiliza
tion wrangling and on the perpetual
verge of war centered in Turkey and
the Danubian principalities. The now
eastern qustion , even more rife with ex
plosive possibilities , has traveled 5,000
miles eastward. Wo can scarcely be
lieve that the lions snarling over this
immeasurably tempting prey will long
keep their powerful fangs from each
other. No division of spheres of iuflu- i
euce , mapped out as in Africa , will j
make them contented any moro than it !
has done on the dark continent. History
will inevitably repeat itself. England's
oxtraordimu-y naval estimate for the
next five years indicates her lucid forecast
'
cast of the forthcoming. Is America to
bo drawn into the terrific armed scram- <
bio which sooner or later will come ? >
Should wo become an oriental power as '
owner of the Philippines it will make
our interest in the struggle directly per
sonal. However tempting the thought
of extending our possessions to the re
mote eastern seas , the imminent risk of
entanglement in that mighty world
quarrel beginning to mutter is one to
bo very seriously considered.
General Shaffer's report of losses
reaches only 1,095 casualties of killed
and wounded among a force not much
more than 15,000 during all tlu fight
ing about Santiago. This is a small
ratio as compared with many of the
battles of our civil war. Yet our bravo
fellows exposed themselves with the
most reckless daring and gave the Span
ish riflemen the best possible chances.
It makes a world of difference who is
at the butt of the gun.
Spanish law prohibited importation of
patent medicines. Now that American
law will supersede the people of Santi
ago will have the ineffable privilege of
dosing themselves ad lib. with pills and
nostrums. It is said that there are some
12,000 patent medicines recorded ii ?
Washington. What a chance to wrea >
further vengeance on the Spaniard undo :
the guise of interest in his health !
Male Fcllnlty.
"Talkingabout the humanity of man
and the felinity of woman , " said the
independent woman , "let mo toll you a
little story of a man and a cat. The
story was told to mo by the wife of the
man , who is a domesticated woman. It
Booms that the family cat , besides being
of a sportive disposition , had more in
genuity than most cats or understood
bettor how to relieve the tedium of a
domestic existence. This cat caught a
mouse. Being well fed , her sporting in
stinct came into play , and she kept the
mouse to amuse herself with. That is a
feline custom , as you nro aware , but
where this cat showed superior mental
ity was in hitting upon a place to hide